Surge Question

[RamblingMad]

So far (fingers crossed, knock wood), Illinois is actually decreasing in both positivity rate and hospitalization's since before Thanksgiving. We've also been on a modified shutdown too.

Hopefully it keeps up.

How much of this is real?

Lots of people haven't taken vacation time this year. I suspect testing centers are experiencing a high volume of tests coming in, but they also have a lot of employees taking vacation time. The numbers for AZ are super volatile since Thanksgiving.

 

[Farro]

How much of this is real?

Lots of people haven't taken vacation time this year. I suspect testing centers are experiencing a high volume of tests coming in, but they also have a lot of employees taking vacation time. The numbers for AZ are super volatile since Thanksgiving.

How much of what is real? Are you saying I'm making it up?
It's reported here everyday. Yesterday they tested over 114,000 people. We've mostly been close to over 100,000 tests a day for weeks now, Thanksgiving holiday(s) were lower.

All metrics are on the IDPH website for anyone to see.

 

[anniemae]

The post Thanksgiving surge is definitely happening. My husband is a physician in the Covid ICU. Things are really really bad. In just one day they had to put 8 Covid patients on ventilators (his ICU is normally a 24 bed icu). Usually he might put a patient on a ventilator once or twice a week in non Covid times, 8 in one day is unheard of in his unit. They also have 2 additional Overflow Covid ICUs that are full also. They have had to stop taking transfers from other hospitals (they were getting so many requests each day from hospitals many states away wanting to send patients to him because they were full). Now we are full too. Things are much much worse than any other time during the pandemic. The reasons you aren’t hearing as much lately is because healthcare workers are completely exhausted, frustrated, and really have no hope that anyone cares about the warnings they have been trying to give. Despite all of their pleas we continue to see friends and family traveling, gatherings, and fake news about Covid. It is honestly maddening and he (and I) don’t have the mental energy to spend on anything other than making it through this dark time right now.

I think this is the most frustrating part for me. People who just ignore the warnings. I see people in my neighborhood gathering with no masks and do distancing. I also see groups of kids getting together with no masks and no distancing. Ironically it's these parents that scream the loudest when schools shut down. It's these behaviors that are straining the healthcare system. Nobody thinks about that when they go out to a gathering.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

Is it me or have we not been hearing much about the covid surge lately?

Before Thanksgiving it was all gloom and doom and how we were heading for a dark winter and cases will skyrocket and people will die etc. It was at the point where the news was causing a lot of anxiety and stress. After Thanksgiving there was the "well now we are seeing the rise in cases due to holiday gatherings." But even that has dropped off. I am not hearing the dire predictions on the news or the warnings not to gather at Christmas like we heard the warning for Thanksgiving gatherings.

I guess maybe they are now focused on the vaccine?

So surprised to read that wherever you are located you are not hearing about the surge! All the news I watch is dominated by the surge, the New Hampshire local news, World News Tonight, Good Morning America etc. The surge, dire predictions and a dark winter is talked about a TON!!

Thats not to say that the vaccine is not being reported on endlessly too. Shocking that whatever news you watch is not reporting on all of the above a LOT!!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Is it me or have we not been hearing much about the covid surge lately?

...? Maybe you just aren't consuming the same media I am.

 

[RangerPooh]

Perhaps the surge is not occurring where you live, but it is happening here as well as throughout the country. There are hospitals in the SF Bay Area in CA that are FULL, not just 95% full, but full. No more ICU beds or respirators. I've seen multiple friends and family members posting news stories about this.

Here in the mid-south our numbers are shooting up due to people not adhering to recommendations to stay home and not visit over Thanksgiving. In the county where I live there were 695 new coronavirus cases reported yesterday. Tuesday's count was 588 new cases. The next county over is enacting a mask mandate in order to attempt to curb their growth. While we've had one since spring, most other counties nearby haven't, and those that did it was brief.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I don't understand the question. I just don't

 

[FlightlessDuck]

 

[mjkacmom]

Is it me or have we not been hearing much about the covid surge lately?

Before Thanksgiving it was all gloom and doom and how we were heading for a dark winter and cases will skyrocket and people will die etc. It was at the point where the news was causing a lot of anxiety and stress. After Thanksgiving there was the "well now we are seeing the rise in cases due to holiday gatherings." But even that has dropped off. I am not hearing the dire predictions on the news or the warnings not to gather at Christmas like we heard the warning for Thanksgiving gatherings.

I guess maybe they are now focused on the vaccine?

Here in the NYC area it’s all we are hearing, our numbers get worse every day, ads asking everyone to get tested, wear masks, governors threatening lockdowns...We are still in orange, I believe, but I’m guessing red soon. I really should get a haircut while I still can.

 

[RangerPooh]

I think this is the most frustrating part for me. People who just ignore the warnings. I see people in my neighborhood gathering with no masks and do distancing. I also see groups of kids getting together with no masks and no distancing. Ironically it's these parents that scream the loudest when schools shut down. It's these behaviors that are straining the healthcare system. Nobody thinks about that when they go out to a gathering.

Yes! In our district these have been the 'Karen' parents (often times are PTA moms/dads and SAHMs) who complain loudly about their child having to wear a mask or buff to school or even the possibility of closing schools because cases are too high. Yet they are not practicing social distancing. Their pictures posted all over social media show large family and friend gatherings without masks.

There are kids in my children's classrooms bragging about family members who are Covid positive and still in their (the childs) home, yet the child remains at school. They're not notifying the school district of this, nor quarantining themselves. I complained to the school about this and was told that unless the family notifies the school about a positive case or quarantine at home that there's nothing they can do. It's frustrating that families are not thinking about others in their community.

 

[piglet1979]

Is it me or have we not been hearing much about the covid surge lately?

Before Thanksgiving it was all gloom and doom and how we were heading for a dark winter and cases will skyrocket and people will die etc. It was at the point where the news was causing a lot of anxiety and stress. After Thanksgiving there was the "well now we are seeing the rise in cases due to holiday gatherings." But even that has dropped off. I am not hearing the dire predictions on the news or the warnings not to gather at Christmas like we heard the warning for Thanksgiving gatherings.

I guess maybe they are now focused on the vaccine?

Here in Ohio this all that is talked about. Each day it seems like our count is higher then the day before.

 

[cabanafrau]

Was it not reported that yesterday's single day Covid deaths in the US were at a record high? Does that not indicate cases are surging?

IMO this question is at best disrespectful to the genuine suffering of so many, those who have lost someone(s), those who have suffered through the illness, and those who are living lives upended in financial ruin as a result of the disruption to daily life as we knew it. By all means, let's stick our noses in the air, shield our eyes, put our fingers in our ears and pretend it's not happening.

 

[LuvOrlando]

It just seems they have been mentioning the deaths and surge etc. but not to the extent they were before. Now it seems like it's just a quick blip then on to the vaccine news. I have not heard the warnings about gathering for Christmas like I was hearing about Thanksgiving.

I think the strategies are just changing. Before Thanksgiving the authorities were just imploring people to behave properly but go their own way. It appears that since we are now knee deep in December and the theoretical has come to pass, it's a real surge with real hospitals running out of real beds, things are shifting towards directives in a state by state way that matches the loss.

The authorities have stopped trying to convince people, we are hearing about closings, the language has changed. My local school district is going remote next week.

 

[Farro]

I think the strategies are just changing. Before Thanksgiving the authorities were just imploring people to behave properly but go their own way. It appears that since we are now knee deep in December and the theoretical has come to pass, it's a real surge with real hospitals running out of real beds, things are shifting towards directives in a state by state way that matches the loss.

I think this and also, perhaps OP is from a state that has been having a surge with increased hospitalizations, warnings of hospitals running out of beds and increased deaths since well before Thanksgiving, while other states were still doing pretty good.
I think we started in October with this.

Maybe in her area they aren't stressing it as much? We still see it in the news here.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Was it not reported that yesterday's single day Covid deaths in the US were at a record high? Does that not indicate cases are surging?

If the OP is more just talking about Thanksgiving (which it did seem like we had a lot of focus, as it should have been, towards that time period) it's a bit early for that to be the case if accounting for lag, but it could mean even higher numbers right before Christmas but attributed to mainly Thanksgiving.

 

[neverlandsky]

In our area, they are a week behind in testing. Halloween = a surge in cases the week before Thanksgiving, 3 weeks later. So If I'm going by that, next week will be week 3 for us. Also everything for us was shutdown November 18. So it remains to be seen if we have a Thanksgiving surge. This week it seems we're coming down from the Halloween surge, yet Monday and Tuesdays have always been low reporting days. Unfortuantely Covid hospitalizations/icu/patients on vents jumped huge for our area and selective surgeries were again cancelled.

 

[anniemae]

nvm

 

[NannyBeBe]

I've been keeping a record of cases in my county since March 26, when we had 75 cases. Cases have surged greatly since Thanksgiving. Yesterday we had 866 cases and 16 deaths. My husband, daughter, and I are hibernating until further notice. The only time I go out is to get groceries, which takes me about 20 minutes in the store. I have an appointment with my oncologist next week which I wish I could cancel but know I should not.
It upsets me that folks just don't care enough to cooperate and make sacrifices until this passes.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I’m in CA, and as others have said, all we hear about is the surge. It is serious and I understand why they’re doing, but I feel like we’ve gotten to the point of rewording the same article in different ways, but it still says the same thing.

 

[dvcgirl67]

It's on the news here non-stop. It's also on national news. Some of that may depend on which news organization you follow. I can't wait until it's not in the news so much because that will mean we're getting closer to the end of this nightmare.